I’ve been challenging myself to come up with one slide that shows the digital landscape and I think Brian and Jesse theconversationprism.com may have beat me to the punch, but I have trouble seeing this on a slide. It has to be on one slide. Anybody else seen anything great?

I’m working on something… something great.

I have long desired to work with other people who believe in the power of digital marketing as much as I do. Many of my posts have been geared towards selling people. I’ve been selling people on the idea that they have to accept digital marketing and create strategies to understand and take advantage of this new way to communicate the values of their brand. I’ve been selling colleagues and clients at work, on Twitter, on my personal blog, on my consulting blog, on blogs that I write for others.

And I’m not doing that anymore.

If the last five years haven’t proven to you that digital marketing (communications, media, etc…) is important, well I’m just not sure that reading my blog is going to be that convincing push you need.

Today, Feb. 23, 2010 I am shifting my focus. I am putting my energy into seeking out other people and organizations who believe to create an impact. I want to work with businesses who have a brand worth believing in to get them an audience of customers that share their values.

If that’s you… reach out. me@madialogan.com.

When you ask a company about their digital strategy, and the response you get is “We’re going to start blogging and twittering and a FB fan page…” – it’s still surprising to me. If you fast forward to the leadership meeting, you’ll hear some undertones of charts and numbers (with nothing to really compare it to) but the real energy in reporting out is that we did it. We started the blog. We started the conversation. Now we’re dealing with how to engage important audiences and answer questions — but we didn’t really have an idea of how to do this before-hand because well this new digital media stuff is craaaazy.

The excuse that digital media is new doesn’t work anymore. There are books, case studies, agency experts, and other things that help people understand what it is, and how to interact with it. The lack of planning is lazy and it reminds me of a quote from a book I’m reading now called Start with Why. “They never have time or money to do it right, but they always have the time and money to do it again.” and it’s true. When a large part of the rework required on these types of projects could have been avoided with planning – well there’s some missing accountability there. Why didn’t you anticipate this?

Just because you can make mistakes at a cheaper financial cost doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get the very best first product as close to right as you can. There are real risks to your brand perception and those risks should make you want to get as close to right the first time as you can.

Despite my better judgment, I’m doing a very introspective post.  It could be because I’m up late thinking about work.  It’s more likely that something is bugging me.  ‘This will surely be one of those posts I contemplate deleting after it’s published but you have to tell the truth to get the truth so here it goes.

I am a marketer, and a pretty serious one.  I am a writer.  I emphasize getting a point across – one on one or in a group.  I am a speaker.  Clearly I like to talk people and I’m pretty good at it.

I am a singer and a songwriter.  I’ve released two albums and am finally back in the studio working on the third.  My albums have digital distribution and can be found online at iTunes, Napster, Amazon, and other marketplaces.  Yeah Madia does music and Madia [a.k.a. logan] does marketing.

I always thought people should pick something, and get good at it.  It wasn’t because I didn’t think people could be good at multiple things.  I did and I do!  I think that when we summarize people in our head, we can only fit one thing.  As people we define other people in a very small box.  I think most mental summaries are a word or two.   Mother.  Musician.  Marketer.  Writer.

We define people by the role we know them to play or the role that is most prominent – and because of that, I conformed to the idea that I have to be one thing now that I’m a grown up and can no longer pass for a college student.  (maybe a grad student…)  People told me I had to pick something.

So I’m coming out to multiple groups that I have worked very hard to keep separate.  Why?

• It’s bound to happen.
• I might as well control the message. (inner marketer)
• If we’re friends you’ll hopefully make my box a lil bigger.
• If we’re not friends, maybe you’ll resist putting others in a box.

If you’re a person of multiple talents, I think letting the walls down is good.  It shows you have multiple strengths and sometimes unique insights as a result of your multiple perspectives.  They told me to pick something… but I’m ignoring that advice.

Remember Michael Porter?  He wrote a couple winners for the Harvard Business Review. Don’t be too hard on the image.  He’s a strategy guy to the core and from the look of it a passionate speaker.

I picked up an old copy of an article he did called Strategy and the Internet.  Some things are dated.  The article was published in March 2001.  It’s astounding that so many things he talked about in the article are still relevant.

“We need to move away from the rhetoric… and see the Internet for what it is: an enabling technology – a powerful set of tools that can be used wisely or unwisely, in almost any industry and as part of any strategy.”

Yes I am the same blogger that talked about being free to experiment yesterday – but the point here is that even if you are testing approaches, you are paying attention to and quantifying the value you hope to gain from your digital marketing.

Porter, also known for developing the 5 forces analysis hits on some other key points that I needed to hear:

• “The most successful dot-coms will focus on creating benefits that customers will pay for, rather than pursuing advertising and click-through revenues from third parties.”  Right on Porter.  We’re all distracted by advertising but for most sites shall not live on ads alone.
• “By creating separate internet strategies instead of integrating the internet into an overall strategy, companies failed to capitalize on their traditional assets…”
• “Virtual activities do not eliminate the need for physical activities, but often amplify their importance.”

Ah sound strategy.  It’s like hearing your parents tell you to do your homework.  You know you should.  You know it’s best and somehow you drag your feet anyway.

I will throw in a plug for Harvard Business Review because… well I like it.  I get it at my f/t for free in the library and I read it all the time.  When I was in business school I signed up for the free online version and still get it so that works too.  They have some new blogs that one could get some value from.  http://hbr.org